Tag: East Asia

Tokyo, Japan – Global communications network Publicis Groupe has appointed Tomoko Akizawa, former executive vice president and client growth leader at global communications company Edelman, to be its new managing director of MSL Japan and new business director of Publicis Groupe Japan.

In her new roles, Akizawa will further develop and deepen MSL’s presence in Japan. She will also lead the MSL team in strengthening its service capabilities to drive greater impact for their clients under the Publicis Groupe’s Power of One offering, which is a frictionless collaboration between all of Publicis Groupe agencies that are able to better service their clients and people. 

Akizawa brings with her 20 years of experience in communications. Aside from her most recent roles at Edelman Japan, she has also held the director of technology and digital practices role.

Commenting on her appointment, Akizawa said that she is excited to join MSL especially as it looks to strengthen its positioning in both corporate and integrated communications in the Japan market.

“Given how MSL is so closely connected to the different solutions under the Publicis Groupe, I strongly believe that MSL is uniquely positioned to contribute and deliver integrated communications solutions as part of the Power of One partnership,” she added.

Meanwhile, Gareth Mulryan, the CEO of Publicis Groupe Japan, believes that Akizawa’s senior appointment will enable them to offer a stronger suite of communications services to their clients via the Publicis Groupe’s service offering of Power of One. 

“I look forward to working with her as part of the Publicis Japan executive team and am confident that she will help to continue our growth in Japan,” said Mulryan.

Margaret Key, MSL’s CEO for APAC and AMA, commented, “With her extensive experience in public relations and integrated communications, MSL Japan will have greater prowess in delivering impact and influence for our clients. I look forward to working closely with Tomoko to scale MSL business in this key growth market.”

Hong Kong – Online marketing and enterprise data solutions provider iClick has fully acquired the remaining equity interest of Changyi Information Technology Co., the independent software vendor in China that provides intelligent retail and CRM solutions. 

Through the acquisition, iClick will be accelerating the expansion of its Enterprise Solutions business, spearheaded by its newly established ‘SaaS + X’ business model which aims to help companies strengthen their productivity and enhance their private domain through effective key opinion leader (KOL) recommendations, efficient targeted marketing and e-commerce partnerships while integrating data assets and solidifying their brand profiles.

iClick said that in consideration of the acquisition, it will pay RMB6,000,000 and will issue 3,091,327 American depository shares. Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Changyi will be wholly owned by the iClick.

Jian Tang, iClick’s chairman, co-founder, and CEO, shared that the demand for private domain traffic remains strong and they are capitalising on this trend through continued investment in their Enterprise Solutions business.

“The acquisition of the remaining shares of Changyi will accelerate the evolution of our Enterprise Solutions and better help our clients to innovate through digital transformation,” said Tang.

Seoul, South Korea – The majority of brands have acquired technology to charm more consumers, which resulted in the latest trend of virtual influencers. Joining the hype, South Korea’s red ginseng company, Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC), has appointed Rozy, a virtual human, to be its exclusive model for its products. 

‘Rozy’ is designed with 3D technology by analysing the face and characteristics, and like ordinary influencers, she uploads photos of her daily life and actively communicates with her fans via comments on Instagram.

The appointment is in line with KGC’s brand concept of its product. The company believes that Rozy’s lively and youthful image will engage many youth, as its products are especially targeting the Millenial Z generation, who seeks a unique experience.

According to KGC, as women’s social status increased, economic activity became more active, and interest in health and self-management increased. This led women to begin taking care of their own health by focusing on value consumption and maintaining self-management. In addition, after the corona crisis, ‘self-medication’, which manages one’s own health through steady exercise and intake of health functional foods, became very popular among the Millenial Z generation, which is commonly referred to as Koreans in their 20s and 30s.

“Red ginseng is a representative health functional food that has been loved in Korea for a long time. Through the process in which ginseng is made from red ginseng, its efficacy is enriched and it is upgraded to be able to be stored for a long time,” said KGC in a press statement.

The company added that this move will enable them to communicate with a wider customer base together with Rozy.

In July 2021, Shinhan Life, along with advertising agency TBWA\Korea, was the first one to rope in Rozy for a brand campaign.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s online collectables and artwork e-commerce service provider Oriental Culture Holding (Oriental Culture) and tech company Heng Well Information Technology Co. (Heng Well) have signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU), aimed at launching comprehensive cooperation on blockchain-based digital cultural and artwork products service business.

As part of the MOU, both companies will be developing blockchain+ and NFT related services and business for cultural and artwork products to take the advantage of Heng Well’s experience and strength in the areas of blockchain and NFT, and Oriental Culture’s experience and connections in the cultural and artwork market. 

Moreover, Oriental Culture will be drawing on its extensive knowledge and experience in the existing and traditional cultural and artwork products market to build up an ecological service networking for the blockchain-based digital cultural and artwork business by working together with Heng Well to expand the trade in cultural and artworks and engage a wide range of the population in the collection, trade, and communication of cultural and artwork products in different forms.

The parties have also agreed to hold regular meetings between their senior management to provide guidance, support, and supervision of the development of new business, and to coordinate and resolve major issues arising in the business practice.

Mun Wah Wan, Oriental Culture’s chairman, noted that the market size of cultural and artwork products is increasing quickly, and the market demand for cultural and artwork trade platforms and related services presents a diversified trend with the recent development of blockchain technology and NFT. 

“Heng Well is a company that has advanced blockchain+ technology and rich experience in related areas, and the cooperation between our two companies will help us to offer blockchain-based services for the digital cultural and artwork products, marking another milestone of the Company in its efforts to create a full-service and new technology-driven platform for cultural and artwork products,” said Wan.

Hong Kong – On-demand delivery platform Lalamove in Hong Kong has launched a new series of initiatives this February, aimed at helping the community in fighting against the pandemic.

The initiatives include the ‘Support Our SMEs’ campaign, which was launched last 14 February 2022. It seeks to support more than 150 SMEs by providing them with exclusive promotion opportunities. 

With this initiative, Lalamove has been leveraging its own and other promotional platforms to help SMEs promote their exclusive offers. These SME partners span across a wide range of sectors such as F&B, catering, lifestyle products, sporting equipment, and electronic products, as well as apparel. 

Shing Chow, Lalamove’s founder and CEO, shared that they have been inspired by the many unsung heroes working diligently to serve the community amidst a challenging situation. 

“Our team at Lalamove has focused on leveraging our strength and strong network in the instant delivery landscape, to help non-profit organizations and SMEs affected by the pandemic moving things that matter on their behalf. We hope to extend our support to grassroots families so that we can overcome this adversity together,” said Chow.

Meanwhile, another initiative is free logistics support for non-profit organizations, which was launched last 18 February 2022. Through this, Lalamove has received more than 50 requests from NGOs for logistics support, delivering epidemic supplies such as rapid test kits, medical supplies, disinfectants, and masks, as well as food.

And lastly, the initiatives also include the donation of 10,000 rapid test kits to help grassroots families who are dealing with the pandemic. To date, Lalamove has donated 10,000 sets of rapid testing kits to various non-profit organizations that have then distributed them to the homeless, as well as grassroots families and workers, hoping to lessen their burdens in searching for the precaution item.

Hong Kong – EventX, the SaaS company providing hybrid event management solutions for businesses, has secured a Series B plus funding of US$8m, which brings the company’s Series B total to US$18m. This funding was led by venture capital investment company GL Ventures, with participation from other investors.

The new funding of EventX will be used for financing potential acquisitions, strengthening its international operations, and expanding its presence in Asia, particularly in Taiwan and SEA, with further investments in product development by scaling their products to transform virtual events with innovative offerings. 

In addition, EventX will continue to expand its footprint in Asia with engineering, business development, and new leadership hire. It will also tap into VR solutions that support a digitalised world and stay ahead of the curve in this ever-changing technological environment. 

Sum Wong, the CEO of EventX, shared that enterprises are already evolving themselves into the digital world and looking for a platform to create an innovative and targeted event for their audience and generate leads. 

“Platform development will always top our first and foremost priority as we strive to stay competitive and make our customers ready for any business opportunities,” said Wong.

Hong Kong – LINE Today Hong Kong, the news and content curation hub within social messaging app LINE, has partnered with digital advertising solutions company Innity to launch its new self-serve platform to streamline its ad operations and expand its ad offerings to advertisers. 

LINE Today curates and publishes over 1,000 news and content articles daily and has over two million monthly active users. The new custom platform enables LINE Today’s advertisers to set up orders, manage campaigns, and build their creatives. It also enables advertisers to run Innity’s high-impact mobile ad formats like Mobile Spin and Mobile Cards, amongst others. In addition, advertisers can set their own campaign budget and schedule, and then monitor results and adjust as needed in a real-time dashboard. 

Queenie Hung, LINE’s sales director for Hong Kong, commented, “We’re excited to enable advertisers to easily and quickly create and upload their own campaigns that they can push live to 2 million active users on LINE Today Hong Kong in an effective way.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Lim, Innity Hong Kong’s managing partner, shared that they are excited to be working with LINE Today Hong Kong who is an innovative publisher dedicated to discovering the best advertising technologies. 

“We’re excited to have become their partner and support and streamline their ad campaigns with our programmatic-driven self-serve solution, and we expect that it will create significant monetization opportunities for them,” said Lim.

Hong Kong – Global Fintech-as-a-Service company, Rapyd, has concluded the acquisition of Neat, a Hong Kong-based cross-border trade enabling platform for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and startups.

Rapyd’s global payments network supports more than 900 payment methods in over 100 countries and global payouts in over 200 countries making it uniquely suited to support entrepreneurs and SMBs looking to incorporate, get online, and access new markets quickly and inexpensively

With the integration of Neat, users will now be able to incorporate new companies in minutes, streamline receivables and payables in a single venue, start with Hong Kong and soon in other trade-friendly markets around the world, offer real-time high-value payments in Hong Kong via FPS, CHATS, and SWIFT, and accelerate payments to suppliers across Greater China, as well as empower smart business and employee spending via virtual and physical Visa cards, and provide eligible businesses with fast working capital through an in-wallet credit line.

Arik Shtilman, Rapyd’s CEO and co-founder, shared that completing the acquisition of Neat represents a significant step forward in expanding our platform’s global capabilities for small and medium businesses.

“As SMBs have evolved into increasingly complex and ambitious enterprises, the tools they require must advance as well in order to keep pace with the demands of this new wave of ‘micro-multinationals.’ We will continue to add more tools to our network in order to continue to support these growing businesses,” said Shtilman.

Shanghai, China – To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, automotive manufacturer BMW in China has launched a new campaign, with the aim to bring sheer joy to all its customers across the country.

BMW said that its Chinese name ‘Bao Ma’ translates to ‘precious horse’, and the campaign is a visual feast of the ‘precious horse’ celebrating and welcoming the Year of the Tiger, an animal known for its vibrancy, playfulness, and bravery, as well as power.

The campaign, which was created in collaboration with creative production agency TBWA\BOLT and artists from Real Good Studio, utilises various visual and audio elements amplifying ‘Hu’ or Tiger in Chinese and ‘Ma’, the ‘precious horse in Chinese, to represent the Year of the Tiger.

Titled ‘Nothing but sheer joy’, the campaign seeks to brighten and entertain, bringing a lighthearted smile to the audience wherever they are during this festive season, veering away from seasonal campaign stereotypes of heavy-hearted emotional family reunions and CNY messages.

Stephane Koeppel, BMW China’s VP of brand and marketing, said “The campaign brings an unexpected and unique perspective to Chinese New Year celebrations by bringing together the dynamic and complementary characteristics of these two auspicious animals.”

Meanwhile, Mo Chen, BMW China’s executive creative director, explains that the campaign injects a sense of joy, which is at the centre of BMW’s brand, together with the Tiger to deliver an entertaining creatively unique experience.

“No tears, no pressure, nothing but sheer joy to welcome in the Year of the Tiger,” said Chen.

The campaign kicked off last 27 January, and was launched in cinemas and across social media including Weibo, China’s Tiktok, and Bilibili, as well as BMW’s own channels. The scope also includes films, posters, and consumer engagement via a user-generated content (UGC) component where the audience is invited to join, create, and deliver their individual interpretations of joy during the celebration.

In addition, the campaign includes a physical set of limited designed collectables including Red Packets and Spring Festival Scrolls, which can be accessed via BMW China’s official app.

Hong Kong – To kickstart the new year, financial institution HSBC in Hong Kong has launched its annual ‘Go Goal Day’ campaign, aimed at empowering people in the country to pursue their dreams, and open up a world of opportunity as they go towards where they aspire to be.

Titled ‘1.23 Go Goal Day’, this year’s campaign was launched on 23 January, with the date and name of this day resembling the expression of ‘1, 2, 3, go!’, HSBC has made it a representation of courage for everyone who goes after their dreams. 

The campaign, which is developed in collaboration with creative and CRM agency Wunderman Thompson, includes a thematic video featuring the country’s superstar Keung To, as well as a series of social posts by influencers around the city who took the lead to share their goals.

The teaser is followed by offline stunts to engage the audience in real life, such as the iconic OOH wall in the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station in Hong Kong, a 1:1 Keung To digital greet with the audience, and an introduction of HSBC services. 

Moreover, the audience is encouraged to scan the QR code and learn more about the products and services that will potentially support them in achieving their goals. The bank has also leveraged on its LED wall to launch a brand new O2O customer journey. 

According to HSBC, during the entire Lunar New Year period, giant digital red packets will rain down the HSBC Main Building to bring luck and fortune to the city. For the very first time, the offline initiative is bringing the customers back to their social media platform, where they can participate in a game on Facebook to complete the journey.

“This full-funnel, holistic ‘1.23 Go Goal Day’ campaign will take everyone in Hong Kong closer to their hopes and dreams, whether it be financial, health goals, or just happiness in general,” said HSBC.